Jordan Greenway Plays in the Coolest Season of All-Time

Many NCAA hockey players from the New England area claim that the Beanpot Tournament is one of the coolest tournaments in hockey. The Beanpot Tournament is the mid-season tournament between Boston College, Harvard University, Northeastern, and Boston University. Now imagine this as being the FOURTH coolest part of your season. This would be reality for Canton, NY native Jordan Greenway.

Greenway’s 2017-2018 season began as a winger for the Boston University Terriers. Many people thought he would turn pro after his 2016-17 season, however, after realizing the potential of his Boston University team had for the following season, he decided to return for his junior year. One reason he would return to BU, but certainly NOT the main reason (wink wink) was that NHL players weren’t eligible for the PeyongChang Olympics. NCAA players and pros not signed to NHL contracts were. Being a United States National Team Development Program graduate, Greenway stood a very fair chance to make Team USA for the South Korea Winter Olympics. Greenway got off to a slow start at BU, but really turned up his play in the second half of the season. He increased his point total from 31 points (10 goals and 21 assists) his sophomore year to 35 points (13 goals and 22 assists) his junior year. He was also able to stay disciplined this season lowering his penalty minutes from 82 PIM to 58 PIM. All in all his final NCAA season was a success. He was an alternate captain for the Terriers, and almost a point per game player. He also played well enough to make the Olympic team for Team USA.

You’d have to ask Greenway himself to get the answer, but I would argue that playing in the Olympics this last winter had to have been his best memory of the season. Not many players get a chance to represent their country in the Olympics, and to have this opportunity as a college student had to have been a thrill. Team USA didn’t have the greatest tournament after losing in the quarterfinals, but Greenway showed us the reason the Wild have thought so highly of him. His physical presence was well known throughout the tournament. He only produced 1 goal in 5 tournament games, but it was evident that he was very physical in the offensive zone and tough to knock off the puck.

After the Olympics came and went, and the Terriers were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament, Greenway signed his professional contract with the Minnesota Wild to begin his NHL career. He played in six regular season games for the Wild down the stretch and finished with one assist. There were times right away that he looked a little timid going into the corners, but by the end of the season he started to get used to the speed and physicality of the NHL. It was a short lived regular season for Greenway because after just six games, the Wild were set to play the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

All things considered, Greenway had a decent playoff series against the powerhouse Jets. Especially when you think about the amount of players that actually contributed on the scoresheet for the Wild. The Wild only scored 9 goals against the Jets in five games and Greenway had points on 2 of those. The first being a pretty sweet assist to Matt Cullen in game one of the series, and the other being his first professional goal in the Game 3 blowout win for the Wild. It’s tough to really gauge how Greenway played during his short stint with the Wild, but there were some things to be optimistic about.

Greenway’s individual season was one for the ages and one that not many people will ever get to do again. He played in the Beanpot Tournament, the NCAA season, won the Hockey East Tournament, played in the NCAA Tournament, made his NHL debut, got his first career NHL point, played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and scored his first career professional goal in front of the home crowd. All in all, I think he will look back and think the 2017-18 season was a really fun season. Most of teams he played on though had a similarity. The BU Terriers lost in the NCAA quarterfinals, Team USA lost in the quarterfinals of the medal round in the Olympics, and the Wild lost in the… western conference quarterfinals.

Final Grade: A-

I’m going to give Greenway an A- for this season. He had a solid NCAA season which was the bulk of his 2017-18 season. He did alright in the Olympics, and had a decent end with the Wild. It certainly could have been better, but when all is said and done, this was a good year for Greenway. 

All Stats taken from EliteProspects.com